What is 21st Century Learning?

Many lists exist, and they have many items in common. All of the information below is taken from New Brunswick Education's NB3-21C material about 21st Century learning. Here is the link to the .pdf of the whole 39 page document:

Dakota and the LRSD will have to come up with our own specific set of competencies, but the work in New Brunswick helps us to go down that road. Here is what our neighbors to the East are saying:

21st Century Learning: What are 21st Century Competencies?
Many countries have already recognized the shift to knowledge and innovation as the key input to success in the global economy and have launched
research in determining how best to respond to the need to transform and enhance their learning sectors. The OECD’s Centre for Education Research and Innovation has undertaken leading-edge research on the new millennium learner, both in terms of the skills they will require and the learning environments needed to foster these skills (Innovating to Learn, Learning to Innovate, OECD, 2008). The European Parliament has adopted eight core competencies and underlying skills it believes member
states in the European Union should pursue within their public education systems. In the United States, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, comprised of policy makers and members from the business community and education field, is advocating its Framework for 21st Century Learning and the skills contained therein. These and other think tanks and authors have identified the learning competencies and changes in instructional practices they believe to be critical in positioning individuals and societies for success in the 21st Century. All are calling for these 21st Century competencies and skills to be integrated as core outcomes of public education. Examples of these 21st Century competencies include, but are not limited to:
• Creativity and innovation
• Critical thinking and problem solving
• Agility, adaptability and capacity for lifelong learning
• Teamwork and collaboration in virtual teams
• Initiative, self direction and entrepreneurialism
• Effective oral and written communication
• Proficiency in the mother tongue
• Multiple languages and cultural awareness
• Digital competence: the ability to effectively access and analyse information, including digital information